Hurricane Streets
by Sadalmelik
Summary: After an ill-fated incident, Saeko is separated from the others and is forced to fight alone. Will she be able to survive on her own?
1. Prologue: Dare to Fly

**A/N:** This is my first attempt at a more mature story, so do forgive me and feel free to correct me if I get a couple of things wrong. Although I know that I certainly will since in this story, I'll only be covering what happens in the anime and I have completely disregarded the final scene, where the group's Hum-Vee crashes and they arrive at some mall by foot.

Also, as a little running gag, I'll be putting in a few of the rules of survival from the US film Zombieland every now and then in situations where they fit the most. And lastly, there will be an original female character.

This story is rated M for: **Gore, language, boobage, and possibly a sex scene.**

So that's it. Without further ado, I give you Hurricane Streets. Don't forget to review; tell me what you guys think. I'm all for improvement. :bd

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**Prologue - ****Dare to Fly**

Saeko jumped back inside the Hum-Vee through the opening above, surprising almost everyone sitting inside. "I think we should call it a night." She said, leaning over to the driver's seat by Dr. Marikawa's shoulder.

Dusk had just arrived and the sun retreated quickly that day, letting the darkness of the night cover the smoke-covered sky rapidly. Then again, it was probably because everyone was still too tense that they really hadn't noticed. Right now the only thing that haunted their minds was _Them_; how to avoid _Them_, how to pacify _Them_, how to arrive at their own homes praying that their families hadn't already turned to _Them_.

They had just left the Takagi manor, and now were on their way to their own houses, starting with Komuro. Saeko knew it was much more difficult fighting _Them _at night, so she thought it would be best if they made an early strategic retreat before it became completely dark.

As usual, Hirano was sitting in the corner re-examining the firearms while Takagi sat by the window, watching the not-so-pleasant scenery outside and looking deep in thought. Komuro and Rei sat on one corner opposite to Hirano, with little Alice sleeping on his lap, and as always, Dr. Marikawa was driving while Saeko stood watch. Of course everyone took turns, but it seemed like she was the only one who was always so passionate about it. It must come with being good with the sword.

But for the first time, she was the one asking for a break. _Women, go figure._

"Well, where should we stay for the night?" Komuro inquired, his voice sounding a bit indolent. He had a pretty rough day, after all.

Takagi fixed her glasses and looked up at Saeko. "This part of town doesn't seem too 'crowded'. Still, we should look for a quieter place to stay." She suggested, or more like demanded. "Some place like that apartment Miss Marikawa's friend owns."

"Where the heck are we supposed to find a place like that?" Komuro groaned. "And how are we even going to get in? It's not like we have some master key to every door in town, and I doubt any survivors are going to offer us a place to stay. It's every man for himself."

"Like those people who killed Alice's dad..." Hirano murmured.

"You idiot." Takagi spat, frowning at the young man. "In this 'new world', nothing is normal anymore. You said so yourself: every man for himself. So we're going to find a nice place, break into it, and if nobody's home, the place is ours. Simple as that, stupid."

Everything suddenly turned silent. They all looked at one another. All they could hear was the roaring engine of the car and the clanking of the firearms Hirano held.

Saeko shook her head and smirked. "You know, that actually sounds like a good idea." She said. "We have to hurry, though, before it gets too dark."

"Don't worry. Leave everything to me."

Dr. Marikawa flashed them all a nice smile as well as a nice view of her breasts before her eyes focused back on the road again. She drove out of the avenue and into the narrower streets, occasionally running over a few clusters of _Them _along the way.

Takashi tried his best to avoid looking at Dr. Marikawa's breasts as they bounced along as she drove. It was ridiculous, and it was considered a bothersome distraction in every way. It was just too much. He was worried Rei might slap him again if she caught him looking at them again.

Hirano lazily looked at the road forward, but his eyes soon widened as soon as he saw the scene ahead. Saeko saw it too, and so she quickly jumped out through the hole above and prepared for another rumble.

"MARIKAWA-SENSEI! LOOK OUT!"

It had turned quite dark, so Dr. Marikawa couldn't notice the large, dense huddle of the infected just ahead. Impulsively, she screamed and turned the steering wheel to the left as quickly as she could, causing the car to drift to the side. It was still moving with a lot of speed when she suddenly applied the breaks, so when it drifted, it was pulled with so much force that it leaned as it turned, running with only the front and rear right wheels.

Saeko held on tighter as she felt the car bend over to the side. Eventually, it came to a full stop and she leapt forward, landing perfectly with a forward roll and greeting _Them _with a bloodthirsty smirk.

_Showtime._

Komuro, Hirano and Rei quickly exited the car with their weapons in hand to provide their fighting star at least some backup, though most of them knew she was going to handle most of them again.

Saeko scoffed as she leapt forward, pulling her katana from its sheath and slicing through as many of _Them _she could reach. Komuro ran after her and started swinging his riot gun around as if it were a baseball bat—he knew it was supposed to be a firearm, but he was much more comfortable using it that way—and broke the heads of the ones Saeko had missed.

Hirano acted as a sniper and took out the ones from afar as well as the ones who came out of nowhere and could have ruined the two tankers' perfect momentum, and finally Rei handled everything at the rear, taking out the ones that got too close to the Hum-Vee.

Saeko ran further out into the crowd as she kept slicing and dicing through _Their _heads and bodies. Their goal wasn't to eliminate every last one of them—that'd be impossible—but to at least reduce them into a smaller group so that they could escape.

After hitting another one on the head, Komuro tiredly stepped back and sighed, turning to Saeko, who still looked like she was having a great time, as always. He had noticed that they were already being driven back by the crowd, when they were working hard to do the exact opposite.

"Komuro! I'm running out of bullets!" Hirano called, causing Rei to turn to him in surprise.

"Saeko-san, there's too many of them!" Takashi pointed out. "We can't take them all on like this. We have to make a run for it!"

Saeko knew that too, and so she took a couple of steps back and waited for everyone else to make their way back inside the car. Hirano rushed in first, being the nearest, followed by Rei and finally Takashi, who stayed on top of the car as he waited for Saeko to jump back in. He looked down at her as she still persisted to slice the heads off of the ones that got to close, and when she looked up at him, he quickly extended his hand and pulled her up, grunting as he did so, tired from all the fighting. He seriously has had enough for the day. He had to admire her for her stamina.

As soon as Saeko found her balance on top of the Hum-Vee, Dr. Marikawa stomped on the gas pedal and sent the car rushing through the crowd, taking out everything in its path. She wouldn't have done something like that before, but thanks to everyone's efforts of eliminating over half of them, she managed to drive through almost flawlessly. The further she went, the lesser _They _became.

Saeko watched as the bodies flew to different directions after being run into by the car. Her long, purple hair flew back along with _Their _bodies, and as much as their surroundings stank, she still liked the way the wind slapped her in the face.

She watched as Takashi unenthusiastically slipped back into the car, dragging his riot gun along with him.

"So much for making a peaceful retreat." She whispered to herself with a tired sigh. Watching Komuro, suddenly it hit her too—she was just as tired as he was. Her adrenaline rush was the only reason she had kept going a bit longer than the others, and thinking about it just made her a hell of a lot more exhausted.

For a moment, she let herself relax on top of the car and completely let down her guard.

But her split second-long moment of peace was disturbed by a sudden collision as they made their way towards a narrow intersection, when they were suddenly greeted by another car passing by the other way. She gasped in shock and grabbed onto the top of the car as the Hum-Vee practically went spinning towards the unknown until it finally hit a nearby concrete wall, sending everyone inside into an impetuous screaming frenzy.

**Rule #4: Fasten your seatbelts.**

Hirano and Komuro quickly jumped out of the car and inspected the damage and to see if the car they ran into managed to make it okay. Hirano looked over at where the engine was and gasped in shock, seeing that their Hum-Vee was still in one piece, but the front was badly damaged. Fortunately, only the exterior was damaged, and the engine looked like it could still function at least a little longer.

"Everyone all right in there?" He asked, leaning into the open window. For some reason, everyone inside the Hum-Vee was shoved all the way towards the front seats and just looked like one huge pile of girls, but they were all fine and still conscious.

Though he could have sworn that blood started to flood out of his nose as soon as he saw the way Saya's face was shoved into Rei's breasts.

Komuro, on the other hand, rushed towards the other car that made it all the way towards an alley with the gas leaking. It was an old red KIA Pride. "Hey, are you guys all right?" He called out, but no one answered. He walked closer to the car and flinched in disgust as soon as he saw the passengers.

They had already turned into _Them. _

No wonder they were driving so fast, the driver's foot must have been stuck on the gas pedal by the time the infection took over. Komuro studied the scene, finding that the passengers included a grown man and a grown woman, as well as a child in the back. All of them were already infected by the time they collided, and he assumed that it was the collision that finally silenced all of them.

Suddenly he heard a growl from inside the car, a high pitched voice. That was when he saw the young boy from the back desperately trying to crawl out of the car.

Komuro stared at him both in horror and pity. It looked like his foot was stuck under somewhere so he really couldn't make it out of the car. "Why does it have to be like this?" Takashi mumbled, looking away. "It was like when Saeko…"

_Wait._

Hirano and Takashi immediately turned to each other, coming to the same realization at the same moment. They had both just grasped the fact that Saeko had suddenly and completely disappeared from the scene, and immediately started to panic, running around in circles and quickly trying to think of something to do.

From what Komuro could remember, Saeko was still on top of the car when the clash occurred. It must have been so strong that it could have thrown her out to any direction. She could have jumped right in time and landed safely somewhere, or she could have completely let her guard down and flew somewhere, falling headfirst, crashing her skull and ultimately dying. But of course, the latter was very unlikely. Saeko was almost invincible; she wouldn't let anything like that happen to her.

Komuro stopped so he could think about it, while Hirano started walking around, screaming out her name, hoping that she would hear them and come back to where they were.

"Saeko-san! Saeko-san, where are you?" He called, his eyes searching high and low for her. The rooftops on the nearby houses, under the bushes and trees, but there was no sign of her.

"Damn it! Where could she be?" Komuro screamed impatiently, stomping his foot against the Pride's engine angrily. "It's not like her to let her guard down at times like this. She's got to be in here somewhere."

Unfortunately, just as Komuro was about to begin his search for Busujima, more of _Them _reappeared out of nowhere and started to close in on the gang from both directions on the road. All that noise from the cars crashing and wheels screeching must have attracted them to where they were. It made quite the noise, after all. And unfortunately, the louder the noise, the more who came running.

Komuro understood that with the way the world was ending, it has already become one of life's principles, or more like the dead's. But the timing was inconvenient. Saeko was still nowhere to be found, and more of them were starting to close in on the Hum-Vee.

He frowned. "I don't have time for this shit!"

"Komuro! We need to get out of here!" Takagi called, her head suddenly popping out of the hole of the Hum-Vee.

"But Saeko!"

"Saeko?" Rei asked, finally sitting up and looking outside through the window. "You mean she's not here? What happened to her?"

Hirano stared at the floor, hesitant to answer. "We don't know where she is."

"The collision must have flung her off somewhere." Takashi explained as he finally walked towards their car. "We can't just leave this place without at least knowing that she's still alive!"

"But if we stay here, it'll be us losing our lives, stupid!" Takagi scolded him. What she had just said sounded a bit harsh to her too, but it was the truth of the situation. In fact, they were already wasting time just talking about it. _They _have already found them, so the area was no longer safe. Wherever Saeko was, though, Saya was positive that she was all right. She was positive that she could still function just fine even without the group.

She couldn't help but let out a tired sigh. "Look, I know you're worried about her, but we need to take care of ourselves too. I'm sure she's fine."

Komuro stared down at the wheels of the Hum-Vee and mentally cursed himself over a hundred times for not being able to save her, but everything Saya had said was right, even though all of it sounded incredibly insensitive, even for her. Saeko was still their comrade, after all.

"Let's look for her later, Komuro. Let's come back here tomorrow morning." Hirano said. Komuro looked down at him. He looked like it took a lot of courage for him to say that.

The two of them then climbed up and made their way back inside the car as the now conscious Dr. Marikawa drove them out of the area and into safety once again, bulldozing her way though the dense crowd of the infected.

Rei gave Komuro a worried glance as she saw him sitting quietly in one corner, staring out the window. The look of guilt and irritation was still painted on his face, and Rei felt that if she even just tried to comfort him, he'd only push her away, so she decided to stay where she was and kept her mouth shut, praying that everything will be all right.

Though in this apocalypse, what could praying to the gods possibly do?

Still, she also prayed that Saeko Busujima was safe and hopefully hasn't turned into one of _Them._


	2. Chapter I: The Beautiful Deception

**Chapter I – The Beautiful Deception**

By the time Saeko had regained consciousness, it was already 7:43, only about fifteen minutes after Komuro and the others had left to escape the large crowd of the infected and to find shelter for the night. After the collision, she was sent flying on the other side of the wall and conveniently had a bad fall behind a line of bushes, out of sight. Her eyes fluttered open and she feebly rolled to the side, gasping brusquely as she felt a sharp sting hit her right hip. It hurt enough to make her want to cry.

She looked down as a single tear rolled down her left cheek, staring down at where she felt the pain, and flinched at the sight: her hip was bleeding. She saw a sharp piece of wood pierced into it and moaned in pain, trying her best not to make any noise in case any of _Them _were around.

With whatever was left of her energy, Saeko pushed herself up so she could sit and leaned against the wall, panting desperately. She took a quick look around and noticed that there were still quite a number of _Them_ walking around at a distance, and that her katana was nowhere to found. She would have to look at it later. Thankfully she kept a secondary weapon, the M92 Vertec handgun that was fixed on her thigh.

She was basically alone and unguarded at the moment, thanks to her injury. Silence suddenly became her first priority—a single noise coming from her direction could send _Them_ where she was and it would ultimately be her end.

"Wh... where are they?" She murmured. Could Komuro and the others have left her alone to die without even bothering to look for her?

She shook her head in disbelief. They would never do that to her. They had no reason to... _right?_

But she shook that off her head. Right now it was the least of her worries. Right now she needed to think of a way to get the hell out of where she was without attracting too much attention to herself, but her wound prohibited her from doing so. She looked down at her injured hip and put a hand on the piece of wood that stabbed her, triggering another tear to stream down from her eye.

Another groan came out of her mouth as she tried to pull it out, but it was just too agonizing. Simply poking it was painful enough to make her want to scream, let alone pulling it out all the way.

But Saeko knew that it was what needed to be done. She tried her best to gather every ounce of courage she had left and sat up straight, putting her right hand by the wound on her hip while her left held on to the piece of wood, as if she was holding her sheathed sword in a fighting stance. And just like a sword, she was going to pull it out swiftly and silently... but mostly just swiftly.

She took a deep breath and readied herself, biting her lip so she wouldn't have to scream. She knew it was going to hurt.

And in one quick motion, she grasped the wood tightly and pulled it out as rapidly as she could, making her gasp and bite her lip so hard that it almost tore it out. It hurt so much that she wanted to scream as loud as she could, but she restrained herself from doing so. Instead, she whimpered as she threw the damn thing to the side and let her body fall forward, twisting her body in pain while holding on to cover her wound as she closed her eyes to keep her tears from falling. She stayed that way for a while, waiting for the pain to go away, even though she knew that was far from happening, given the situation.

Eventually the pain slowly started to diminish until it was more bearable, but hasn't completely gone away. Saeko struggled to sit up again and bit her right sleeve, ripping the entire thing off with her free hand and using it as a bandage to cover the injury. It was the best she could do for now. She also tied her hair back again in a neat ponytail so her long locks wouldn't have to be so troublesome now that she's a little handicapped.

She took a quick look around again and saw that none of _Them_ had noticed her so far. In her silence, she was virtually invisible. It made her sigh in relief.

She finally stood up, using the wall to support herself, still feeling a little tingle. She needed to get out of here as quickly as she could before _They_ even notice that she was even there in the first place.

But first—her katana.

Saeko slowly and noiselessly made her way around the wall so she could get to the other side, where she remembered the Humvee and the KIA Pride crashed together before she was thrown to who knows where. She looked down at the road and saw the marks of the wheels of the Humvee as it drifted and smashed towards the wall, seeing a number of the infected still walking around the crash site.

The hood of the Humvee littered the scene along with piles of debris and left a huge dent on the wall, completely destroying the portion it crashed right into.

"It's got to be around here somewhere." She quietly told herself, looking around for her katana.

As she covertly investigated the scene in search for her primary weapon, she came across the smoldering KIA Pride and walked closer to it to see if the passengers somehow survived. There was one of _Them_ in the way so she still had to go around before she finally came to where the car was at.

She peeked inside and frowned in disgust, finding a full family infected by the pandemic: a father in the driver's seat, a mother right beside him, and a child, who was still trying to crawl out of the car, struggling at the backseat. It seemed like the little boy was the only one who 'survived' the crash, and Saeko wanted to put an end to his misery by finally silencing him. Unfortunately, her katana was still missing and to use her pistol would be stupid, considering how much attention it was going to draw to her when she fires it.

She decided to leave the kid alone for the meantime while she resumed her search for her precious katana. She tried looking under the car, over it, and even behind it, but there was nothing to be found other than the smoke it discharged.

Saeko snickered in mild irritation and tried to think of where that damned sword could have flown off to. She took another look around before looking up, and much to her surprise, there her katana was, hanging along one of the branches of a nearby tree.

Grinning, she hurried towards the tree and looked up, realizing that it was quite a distance away from the ground and that she was in no condition to jump or climb, or else her wound might reopen and bleed again. She let out a sigh. Today really just wasn't her lucky day. She frowned—first was the collision, then the wound on her hip, followed by Komuro and the others leaving her for dead, and now this. If things get any worse, there was a chance she might lose just lose it and scream her head off. But she hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

She tried standing on her toes and extending her arm up in an attempt to reach it, but only the tip of her fingers could touch the bottommost part of the sheath.

"This is hopeless." She told herself, sighing in defeat and leaning with her back against the trunk. How was she supposed to slip out quietly with her katana now?

And just then, as she had feared, the leaking engine from the KIA Pride nearby suddenly triggered an explosion loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, setting fire to every flammable thing around it. Her eyes suddenly widened and she quickly ducked for cover, gasping as she felt the pain from her wound again due to the sudden motion of her upper body.

"Goddamn it!" She hissed.

That explosion would surely attract the attention of each and every one of _Them_ in the district, meaning she was doomed if she didn't act quick and leave as soon as she could, but she couldn't just leave her sword there. Fighting with it was the only way she knew how to. She wasn't even familiar with handling the handgun she had. She knew she was standing way too close to trouble.

A moment later, she heard the last thing she wanted to hear: the grunting and growling of the infected that were approaching the fire. The sound got louder by the second she was starting to get scared. She couldn't even imagine just how many of them were attracted by the sound.

It could very well be the end of her right then and there.

But instead of crying in fear, Saeko looked at the approaching crowd of the infected and sighed, greeting them with a warm smile and accepting her end. It would be pointless to struggle against destiny anyway.

"I guess this is goodbye." She said, and closed her eyes.

She kept them closed and listened to the footsteps of the infected coming for her. They got louder and louder, representing how close they were getting. She nervously swallowed the lump down her throat and waited for them to just get on with it and bite her and turn her into…

Wait just a minute.

"I'm not letting myself turn into one of you!" She suddenly stood up and yelled, ignoring the sensation of pain that stung her hip again. She chuckled incredulously and pulled her handgun out of its holster, pointing it forward.

Saeko couldn't believe herself. For a moment there, she just acted like a complete loser, forgetting who she really was and why she was fighting in the first place. She couldn't believe that she almost let this pack of monsters convert her into one of _them_. "I'm Saeko Busujima, you pieces of shit, and I'll die as myself before let myself I turn into one of you." She told them, as if they could understand her, suddenly regaining her confidence.

She could feel her adrenaline pumping and completely forgot all about her injury. So this is how it felt when you really want to fight in order to stay alive.

Not wasting any more time, she pointed to the one nearest to her and fired, with the recoil almost causing her to fall back. For a handy little thing, it sure packed quite a punch, or maybe it was just because it was her first time handling a firearm. After taking a couple more of them down, she quickly ran back to the tree where her katana was and took the opportunity to leap forward, reaching up and dragging it down while she was still in her perfect momentum.

Saeko put the pistol back in its holster and held on to her katana, quickly pulling it from its sheath and cutting off the heads of any one that got too close to her.

It suddenly felt orgasmic, getting some of her energy back. Fuck being injured and tired. She was getting out of there alive no matter what.

She looked around and searched for a part of the crowd that was at least a little less dense than the others so she could cut through it and make a path, slipping away from the clusters as quickly and as quietly as she could, but so far the opportunity to make all of it happen still hasn't presented itself. She needed to think fast before they even find the smallest chance to corner her.

Saeko took one step back and spun around, performing a swift horizontal slash and eliminating the ones closest to where she stood. A large amount of blood was splashed in one direction and heads flew around like toy balls. Suddenly there was just too many of them, and as enthusiastic as she was about hacking through each and every one of those heads, she just couldn't take them all, even if she were in perfect condition.

One of _them _took a bold move and charged forward, attempting to bite her on the arm, but she quickly pierced through his skull with her sword and kicked him aside.

Soon she found herself being driven back and surrounded by the crowd and felt her back hit a wall. She looked up behind her and saw that it was a residential apartment building with the lights off, so no one was probably inside, meaning no one from nearby could magically just appear out of nowhere and come to her aid.

**Rule #17: Don't be a hero.**

She couldn't believe her luck. In just a matter of minutes after gaining an almost perfect killing impetus, she suddenly finds herself in another helpless state.

Perhaps this time it definitely was the end.

Saeko frowned and put her katana back in its sheath and pulled out her handgun again, turning the safety off and letting her finger hover just on top of the trigger. She then put it up and held it against her head, still hesitant to fire.

"I'm keeping my pride, even in death." She whispered. She then took a deep breath and gathered all of her courage.

But suddenly, just as she was about to pull the trigger, the thundering sound of breaking glass was heard followed by an almost deafening whistle; not as loud as the explosion before, but was definitely loud enough for _Them_ to hear, and judging from the way it sounded, it felt like the noise came from only a couple of blocks away. All heads turned to where the sound came from and headed towards it, completely forgetting about Saeko and leaving her where she was. She sighed in relief—for once that day, something good actually happened to her.

She let herself slide down against the wall until she was sitting again, and put her gun back into its holster, watching _Them _as they walked away to follow the sound. She took the opportunity to catch her breath and take a short break before she uses the diversion to slip away unnoticed.

She heard the rustling of the nearby bushes.

"Psst. Hey, lady. Over here."

Saeko couldn't help but flinch as soon as she heard the low voice that suddenly whispered to her. For a moment there, she thought it was Death himself trying to fetch her personally. She turned and followed its sound and looked to her right; just behind a bush, there was a young man hiding and looking at her, using his hands to signal her to come closer.

Saeko blinked in confusion but soon regained her signature expression of nothing but seriousness, analyzing the situation. What if it was some sort of trap? The boy surely didn't look harmless, but he didn't look like a dangerous person either. He could also have already been bitten and was in danger into turning one of _Them_, but judging by the look on his face, it held only a small possibility. Could he be crouching there, only a few steps away from her, simply because he wants to help her out?

The young man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, noticing that the girl with the sword was deep in thought. "Pssst! Hey!" He called again, still whispering although louder than before. "Hey, lady! Didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you." She whispered back. "What do you want?"

The boy scoffed, shook his head in disbelief and stood up, quietly walking closer to Saeko. He crouched right in front of her, causing her to retreat a couple of steps back, and studied her figure. He noticed the wound on her hip, which still bled through the piece of cloth covering it.

"That looks bad." He observed. Saeko noticed that for a guy like him, his voice wasn't as low as she had expected. He looked rough, mature and experienced, but his voice just sounded so feminine that it felt completely weird. It was as if he was a little boy disguised as a grown man. Could he be one of those Canadian pop stars she heard about that were completely incapable of hitting puberty no matter how old they got? Nevertheless, he was here to help, and right now it was all that mattered. The young man extended a hand to her, his expression none but serious. "Let's get you out of here first, then we'll talk." He offered. "It's only a matter of time before _they _realize that the noise they heard was just a diversion I created."

"Wait, so you were the one who made all of that noise? Why would you do something like that?" Saeko inquired.

"Like I said, we'll talk about it later." The boy said, sounding pressed for time. "Now do you want to live or not?"

Saeko gave out a sigh and reluctantly took his hand, letting him pull her arm over his shoulder so he could support her as they walked. He quickly led her away from the scene, and she hoped that her luck wouldn't get any worse and that she had made the right decision to trust this stranger.

* * *

"That was quite the stunt you pulled back there, lady." The young man laughed as he sat back behind the cashier in one of the abandoned convenience stores near the crash site. "I never would have had the guts to face that many alone, and for that, you instantly have my respect." He had already taken off his flat cap and placed it over the cash register but kept his jacket on, letting the wind touch his short brown locks after a tiring day.

He and Saeko had walked quite the distance before they got to where they were, and he had let her take a seat on one of the office chairs next to him so she could take a quick rest before they continued their escape.

Saeko couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I guess things like that tend to happen when you're desperate to make it out alive. Thank you for saving me."

"I guess." He said with a shrug. "And don't mention it."

"So, you haven't really told me what your name was."

The young man looked down at her and just realized how commanding her presence was as she stared at him, waiting for an answer. Even while injured, she really didn't look like the type anyone would want to mess with.

It took him a while before answering. "It's Jun. Jun Sakamoto."

Saeko flashed him a warm smile, of both gratitude and salutation, surprising him a little. It looks like he really was trustworthy. He had no idea how much she needed someone like him to come along in her time of need. Then again, anyone would do. She needed all the help she could possibly get in a situation like this. "It's nice to meet you, Jun. I'm Saeko Busujima. Please call me Saeko." She said. "I'm curious, though, how did you know they reacted that way to sound? And how did you know that I was there?"

Jun leaned back on his seat and prepared to tell his story, getting a bit too comfortable as he threw his feet up on the counter. It was going to be a long tale.

He said, "Well, finding you was only by chance. I was hiding in an alley when I heard the car crash, and I just decided to follow the sound to see what was up. I'm a curious little bastard, you see. I know someday that just might kill me."

"And you just happened to see me there?" Saeko inquired, ignoring his self-description.

"Yeah." He said, nodding. "I saw you go all crazy with your sword and all that. I kind of thought you were some sort of superhero, so I assumed you could have taken care of all of _them_ no problem. Besides, I was scared of what you'd do if I interrupted."

Saeko put a hand on her chin and smirked. "So that explains it. And you just decided to distract them with noise when I was in a pinch. How did you know about that, though?"

She could notice a shadow hover over his eyes before he talked. Suddenly he didn't look as cheerful as before. "That's easy. I was a musician before all of this happened, so the concept of sound is kind of my forte." He said, forcing a grin. "It was the first thing I noticed before I also realized that they're also blind."

"I see." Said Saeko. She then leaned back and put a hand over her sloppily covered wound, moaning in pain as she touched it. "I hope you don't mind if I took a little break. It still hurts, especially after that last fight."

"Sure, no problem. Actually, that's the reason I took you here first." Said Jun. "We have to clean that up before we go any further. Let me just get some stuff."

He then stood up and went further into the store, with Saeko watching him though the large overhead mirrors around the interior of the establishment. _Was he a doctor too? _He grabbed one of the baskets on the floor as he walked, approaching one of the stands and grabbing rolls of bandages, as well as some rubbing alcohol amongst other first aid and curative materials. He had to hand it to convenience stores—even at times like this, they were still pretty damn convenient. It was probably even better since the goods were now free.

Saeko listened to him as he rummaged the cabinets for the things he needed. He sounded like a burglar in the middle of a robbery. It made quite the racket, but fortunately not enough to draw any attention to them.

Eventually Jun finished collecting the things he needed and went back to Saeko with his first aid kit of a basket. He grinned and put on the pair of rubber gloves he found lying around, returning to his seat right in front of Saeko's. He then pulled out a bottle of mineral water and isopropyl alcohol, as well as a bar of soap, from the basket and opened them, putting them aside for a while as he looked up at her again.

"Okay, let's get that thing fixed." He said softly as he pulled his sleeves up his arms, pointing at her bleeding wound. She still looked pretty hesitant. "Look at it, it's still bleeding. I'll bet you haven't even cleaned it up."

Saeko looked down at it and realized that she did a pretty bad job trying to suppress the bleeding. She really wasn't good at things like this. She chuckled in embarrassment. "So you're a doctor too?"

Jun started to remove the sleeve that covered the wound before he started talking again. "No, but my mom was." He said. _Was. _So that must have meant she was already dead, or had already turned into one of _Them. _"I don't know as much as she does, but I do know about first aid, although I'm still not sure if I first aid is enough to get this wound of yours completely fixed."

"That bad, huh?"

"No kidding." He scoffed. "But you managed to fight with it so maybe it's really not that bad."

She couldn't help but gasp as his fingers came in contact with the stab. "But it still hurts." She moaned.

Suddenly he looked as if something popped into his mind and stared down the floor in embarrassment, causing Saeko to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. Thankfully it was dark, so she really couldn't see the way his cheeks had turned pink. "Something wrong?" She asked him.

"Well, um, Saeko-san." He stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling nervously. "With all due respect, I can't clean your wound with your shirt in the way."

"Are you suggesting I take it off?" She asked him rather flatly.

He flinched. "No, of course not." He said, shaking his head insistently. "Just try to at least lift it high enough so that it wouldn't get in my way."

"Oh. Sure." She said. She then did as he suggested, lifting up her sailor blouse, but only up the spot just below her breast, giving Jun a nice view of her flawless abdominal area. He then reluctantly went back to what he was doing, removing the last few layers of the bloodstained cloth that covered her wound just right above her hip and exposed it, causing her to shudder in the coldness.

Jun looked up at her anxiously. "You okay?"

Saeko only nodded in response and urged him to go on. She knew this was going to hurt, but she knew she'd feel a hell of a lot better once it's over.

He then took the bottle of water and started pouring a considerable amount on her wound, using the soap to clean up the area around it before finally rubbing on the wound itself. There weren't any faucets nearby or a hose, so they were going to have to settle with this. He could hear Saeko's whimpers as he continued to treat her, urging him to be gentler with what he was doing. She was still just a girl, after all.

"H-Hey, Sakamoto-kun." She called.

Jun continued his treatment, not even bothering to look up at Saeko as he did so. He looked like he was already getting into what he was doing. "Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you even trying to help me?"

The question made Jun chuckle. "Well, it's the least I can do." He said. "You see, when this whole outbreak occurred, I couldn't protect the people I cared about. So now I'm trying to make up for it by helping as many people as I possibly can." He then laughed. "Besides, it's not every day I get to meet someone so beautiful."

That compliment made Saeko blush, but she couldn't help but look down at him in pity. If everything that happened to him was as fucked up as he said it was, she was surprised he could still manage to remain cheerful even after all of it. Either it made him crazy, or he was just a lot stronger than he looked.

It made her more curious about his story. "What happened... to those people that you cared about?" She asked a little cautiously.

Jun looked as if he didn't hear the question, but she could see that his smile had suddenly turned into a frown. He seemed to busy with what he was doing, and almost as immediately, Saeko began to regret asking that question. She knew it was a little too personal, especially when they've just met.

"My girlfriend and I, we were in the middle of a fight when the world came to an end." He suddenly said, startling Saeko a little. "That day she called me, not to apologize, but to tell me that she needed me... that her brother had turned into some sort of monster. She was crying. I thought she was just playing some sort of practical joke on me."

Saeko kept quiet and listened to him. He looked like he was still struggling to tell the story. It must have been emotionally arduous for him. He must have really loved his girlfriend.

"I was stupid, so I just ignored it." He continued. He stopped treating her wound for a while and sat with his elbows against his knees. "The next thing I knew, my mom and my brother were trying to eat me. I had no choice but to kill them. That was when I started to believe her. I made my way to her place as quickly as I could, but when I got there, she had already turned into one of _them_."

"So you had no choice but to kill her too?"

Jun shook his head and forced a smirk. "No, I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I just made a run for it, and I've been fighting ever since." He laughed. "I'm sorry, you must think I'm crazy for being too attached to a lover."

"No, not at all." Saeko shook her head. "I haven't been in love myself, although I can say I've grown to like other people to a level greater than just being friends. If that happened to me, I'd probably hesitate as well."

"Well, I hope you get the chance to experience being in love yourself once everything's over."

"Yeah. That sounds nice."

Jun then grinned and returned to fixing her wound. There were only a couple more things left to do before everything was done. He could feel how much it hurt for her through her moans, so he tried his best to work a little faster and gentler. Suddenly, Saeko struggled to catch her breath, feeling something being quickly tweaked out of her wound. "Sorry about that." Jun said. She looked down and saw that he had plucked several little twigs and threw them aside, now proceeding to clean it up once again before finally applying the bandages to cover the damn thing up.

"Hey, Miss Saeko, would you mind if I asked you a question?" Jun inquired.

She looked down at him. "What is it?"

"How did you get yourself in that situation, by the way? Just when I found you?" He asked. "Have you always travelled alone as well?"

"No, not really. I was part of a group, actually." She explained. She was still trying to think positively, trying to brush off the idea that Komuro and the others had left her there to save their own asses. She struggled to convince herself that they wouldn't do such a thing. "But after crashing with that car back there, we got separated, and now here I am." She said. "I could have survived it alone, if it wasn't for this injury."

By the time Saeko had finished talking, Jun had already finished cleaning the wound and finally began to wrap the bandages around her waist, as if it were a belt. "Are you still going to look for them?"

It took a moment before she answered. "Of course. They're my friends."

"I see." Jun then secured the bandage with a clip and leaned back with a sigh, wiping off the sweat off of his forehead. "Would it be okay with you if we stuck together for a while? At least until we find what we're looking for."

"I was planning to do that, actually." She confessed. "What are you looking for anyway?"

"Come to think of it... nothing in particular." He said plainly, sounding like he really didn't think that through. "I just want to find some sort of sanctuary free from those monsters. Like a deserted island or a stronghold in the city. Something like that, wherever the wind takes me."

Yeah, dream on.

"Why don't you just join us, then?" Saeko offered. "It's much safer to travel in a group, and we have a Humvee, which is in a lot of ways better than walking."

Jun couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't know, Miss Saeko."

"You don't know?"

"I might just be dead weight." He admitted. "I'm really not as good as fighting as you are. I mean, before we met, I just used a guitar as a weapon, and the only reason I got this far is because I snuck through and only fought when I was forced to."

"That doesn't sound so bad. At least you know when to fight." Saeko said with a giggle. "We can find you a new guitar if you want."

That made him laugh. "That's nice, Miss Saeko. But sure, just let me think about it first, okay?"

Saeko couldn't help but wonder why he would turn down such a generous offer, especially in such a crisis. Normally, anyone would be quick and probably even be desperate to accept an invitation to a group with a vehicle that they can use to ride through the city, but he was doing the exact opposite. Was he really that much of a burden that it may truly lead to the group's downfall if he joins them? Anyway, she'll see it for herself once they get out of there. It's not like they're going to endure the epidemic together without having to fight.

She could only nod in response. She put her blouse back down and sat straight, now that she was fixed. She could still feel the opening of the wound as she moved, but the pain has been lessened significantly.

"Thank you." She smiled.

Jun pulled his gloves out and threw them aside, leaning back on his chair again and crossing his slender legs. "Don't mention it." He said. "Does it still hurt as much as before?"

"No. It's almost as if I never got injured in the first place." She said. "It still hurts a little, but it's bearable now. I owe you one."

He shook his head. "That won't be necessary, Miss Saeko. With what the world has turned into, everybody's going to need all the help they can possibly get." He then let out a heavy sigh, stood up, and walked around the store, unbuttoning his denim jacket with his back turned against her as he did so and revealing a sweat-stained baseball shirt. He tossed it to the side and let it hang onto a chair, rubbing his head tiredly. "Man, it's too hot in here."

"Do I have anything to do with that, by any chance?" Saeko joked.

Jun laughed again. "Probably." He then turned so he could face her again and grinned. Saeko smiled back, but as she looked down while studying his figure, something beyond belief caught her eye, causing her to gasp and jump on her feet, putting a hand over her heart.

What did she see? Well, nothing weird, really, just... _boobs_.

"Y-You're a woman?" She demanded rather uncouthly, her expression transforming from calm to hysterical.

* * *

Saeko couldn't believe what she was seeing. For a moment there, she actually thought that Jun was charming, smart, and emotionally strong and many other things, though she still did. She was actually starting to look up to him, well, until she found out that _he_ was actually a _she_. How could she not have noticed it?

Well, actually she has. Jun's voice was kind of a giveaway. She really should have known something was weird about it.

Jun raised an eyebrow and frowned, apparently insulted. "What? Of course I'm a girl. Not exactly too proud of that, but yeah, I'm a girl." She said. "You mean, all this time we've been talking, you really haven't noticed that?"

Saeko gave out a sigh and straightened herself, realizing her reaction actually was offensive, and that her thoughts were nothing less than utterly judgemental. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me." She told her. "I knew your voice was kind of strange and unsuitable for your figure, but you looked and acted so much like a man—you even said you had a girlfriend—so I never really noticed."

She was never really the type to get mad about these things, so Jun could only shrug and shake her head in disbelief. She was already used to getting that kind of reaction. It was her own fault for being so damn good at acting like a man. "It's all right, I guess." She sighed.

"I really am sorry."

"Nah, it's fine." Jun waved off. "I get that a lot, so it's not a big deal anymore."

Suddenly a long silence fell onto the room, and Jun was left to stare at Saeko while the swordswoman kept her eyes glued on the floor in shame. She looked like she felt pretty bad about how she reacted, so it made Jun feel bad about the whole thing just as well, but she still couldn't quite tell if it was the reaction that made Saeko look so guilty or the fact that she's been spending all this time with a cross-dressing lesbian.

She had faced everything, from the undead to her own emotional abnormalities, but when it came to dealing with Jun, Saeko was completely clueless.

That was when Jun decided to break their silence. "You don't often get to see people like me, do you?" She asked her.

"Actually, I've seen a couple of them." Saeko replied, looking up at her companion again. "Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong with your preferences. It's just that I really don't know how to interact with your kind, like whether I should treat you like a man or a woman. It's a little complicated."

"Ah, I see." She nodded back. "So you feel weird around me now that you know what I am?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Saeko insisted. "How should I say this..."

Saeko crossed her arms and actually tried to think about how she should explain her opinion to Jun when suddenly they both heard a sound from approximately only a small distance away. It sounded like a branch snapping in two, probably after being stepped on.

Their heads both turned to follow the sound, and Jun quickly grabbed her jacket, tossing it on and pulling her flat cap onto her head as he turned to Saeko again. "That doesn't sound good." She said. "We're gonna have to talk about this later, Saeko-san."

"Right." Saeko nodded.

The young swordswoman quickly grabbed her katana and stepped out of the store, looking in both paths of the road and saw one of _them_ walking alone without direction. She sighed in relief, thankful that it was just at least one of _them_ walking around and not really an entire swarm like she had initially thought.

Jun finally stepped outside the convenience store, and saw Saeko staring at something. She turned to that direction and saw what she was looking at, flinching in surprise.

"Good lord." Sighed Jun, though a little relieved. "Just one, I see."

"Nevertheless, we should get out of here." Saeko said rather sternly. "Who knows how many of them are lurking in the shadows?"

"Yeah, you're right. Just let me get something to fight with."

Saeko looked around ever so vigilantly and scanned the area for others while Jun disappeared back into the convenience store, once again rummaging through the goods to find something that she could derive some benefit from. She could hear the sound of plastic crackling inside and noticed that it caught the attention of the lone contaminated, causing him to sluggishly head towards their direction, and suddenly, more of _them _came from different directions and started to close in.

"Sakamoto-kun!" Saeko called in a whisper, quickly but quietly pushing the glass door open. "We have to get out of here!"

All of a sudden the sound Jun was making had stopped, and she emerged from the shadows, holding only a sizeable wrench in her hand. She lifted it up for Saeko to see. "Will this do?"

"Whatever you can fight with." She sighed. She was slowly starting to realize just how much of a burden this Jun was probably going to turn out to be. "Now we have to get going. More of them are starting to pop out of nowhere."

Jun ran outside to see for herself, and saw that what Saeko said was true. Well, she didn't exactly look like she was lying, but she still had to see with her own eyes. _They_ were closing in at a steady pace, and were obviously heading to where she and Saeko were. There weren't as many of them as before, but they were still outnumbered. They couldn't possibly take _them_ all with just the two of them.

"Um, Saeko-san." She called, taking a step back. "How do you suppose we handle this kind of situation?"

Saeko stepped forward and pulled her katana out, positioning herself just in front of Jun, as if she were her guardian. She then took a quick dash forward and sliced the head off of the one that was nearest to them, swinging her sword swiftly to the side to shake the blood off. Here she was again, igniting what she knew as her killing summit.

Jun winced as the body fell onto her feet and jumped out of the way. She turned to Saeko again, but found her already fighting off each and every one of _them _that she could get her hands on.

"She's a superhero, all right." Jun grinned to herself and prepared to fight as well.

She leapt forward towards one of _them_ and smashed him in the head with her wrench. Unexpectedly, the swing was so powerful that it caused the wrench to affix itself onto the contaminated man's head, and much to her surprise, he was still moving. He threw his arms forward and attempted to but her hand, but she quickly prevented that by kicking him in the stomach, throwing him back and disconnecting the wrench from his head.

The man was staggered as he lay down on the ground, and Jun took advantage of the situation by swinging her weapon downwards and giving him a quick, heavy blow to the face-twice.

**Rule #2: Double tap.**

Jun sighed and wiped off the sweat on her forehead. "Sweet Jesus, that felt pretty good!" She laughed. She then turned to Saeko. "Saeko-san!"

Saeko was in the middle of her own heroic and rather bold battle when she heard her name being called. "What?" She yelled back after cutting another one of their heads off.

Jun scoffed and stood back up, sprinting towards Saeko and pressing her back against hers, startling her. "This looks like it's going to be a long fight." She chuckled. "I may not be of much help, but I have a suggestion."

Saeko smirked. "What is it?"

"You can charge forward while I watch the rear."

She could tell that Jun was talking about something a lot bigger other than the fight they got themselves into. It was actually her strategy for this battle and the many fights ahead, but also as well as how they were going to handle their teamwork from that moment on. Something told her they were going to be partners for quite a while.

Maybe cross-dressing lesbians weren't that bad after all. In fact, they were probably even cooler than she thought.

**Rule #8: Get a kickass partner.**

"I like the way you think, Jun." Said Saeko. She could feel her new friend smiling behind her, and without the need for gestures on what to do next, they both charged forward at the same time and away from each other, as if to provide each other an extra push. And for the first time in this outbreak, Jun actually started to like the idea of charging forward and initiating the offensive instead of just sneaking through.

This could very well be the start of an outstanding partnership.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading! I know most of you probably didn't expect something like that out of Jun. The only reason I did that was because I wanted a little more diversity among the outbreak survivors after watching a movie about lesbians. I must admit, that broadened my understanding about the third sex. Anyway, do tell me what you think, and corrections and/or suggestions for current and future chapters are welcome. :bd


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